


Ramapo (the closest thing to me)

by Ex-Genesis (orphan_account)



Category: Disney RPF
Genre: AU: High School, Angst, Fluff, Incest, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-29
Updated: 2010-06-29
Packaged: 2017-11-12 15:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/492739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Ex-Genesis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe and Nick are starting at a new school, and there's this guy that has it out for the both of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ramapo (the closest thing to me)

"Ramapo. Ramapo. Ramapo."

"Joe, shut up."

"It's cool to say. Try it! Ramapo!"

"Joe, I have... It's our new school; I've said the name before. I don't think it's nearly as interesting as you're making it out to be."

"Ram-a-po. Nick, it is _definitely_ as interesting as I'm making it out to be."

Rolling his eyes, Nick tried to tune his ears into the music coming from the speakers behind him. He was in tenth grade and Joe was a senior, yet he was the one trying to ignore his annoying brother as though Joe were younger than him. How that worked, he had no clue, except - oh wait... it didn't. Nick started repeating the word in his head along with Joe, and finally realizing it, smacked himself in the forehead with his hand. "Really?" he asked aloud under his breathe, not meaning for anyone to hear. As always, though, Joe heard, and turned his body in toward Nick, putting his arm behind Nick's shoulders against the car seat.

"Really, little bro, really. Ramapo." Nick's frustrated sigh filled the car with his internal pain. Why? Why had he been cursed with Joe as a brother? Couldn't Joe have been someone he at least didn't have to live with? Cause he'd probably be more tolerable if he weren't by Nick's side twenty-four/seven. After a few moments of Nick and Joe both mumbling the name in sync, some of it becoming a bit sing-songy as they progressed, Joe stopped in order to say something - real. "Mom, why can't I drive to school?"

Biting back his laughter, Nick shifted to his right, leaning his elbow up against the window. He didn't want to be too close to Joe when his mother explained, yet again, why he couldn't. Joe always got a little bit pissy about it. Nick didn't understand why he was persistent about the whole thing. It wasn't as though anything was going to change just because he kept questioning it.

Since it was their first day at a new school and she had some forms to turn in anyway, their mom had offered to drive them today instead of making them ride the bus. Which, man, Nick hated riding the bus, so this was pretty awesome. "You don't have your license and I'm not letting you drive through the morning traffic."

"But - "

"And you know just as well as I do that you have to wait six months before you can take the test again." Yeah, because he totally failed the test twice already. Nick was sort of terrified for Joe to finally pass it. Hopefully mom and dad wouldn't let him have his own car, otherwise Nick just knew he'd be in Joe's passenger seat like _all_ the time, and he'd have gray hair before he turned twenty-one. Tossing a glance at his older brother, Nick saw Joe's jaw clench a little. He knew Joe wanted to say something nasty and probably untrue about the last guy who administered the driving test, but he also knew that Joe would get reprimanded, and Joe had this line, or something, that he never crossed, so obviously since it was early in the morning, Joe was saving his get-in-trouble tokens for something else, which both worried and excited Nick.

"Then dad should be taking me out driving more so I can get better," Joe said, finally finding a non-threatening voice, just a whiny one. Mom looked into the rear view mirror at her son, scrutinizing eyes, and then nodded her head a little before returning her attention to the cars around her.

There was a terseness to her tone that was this weird Mom Threat. Whenever she used it, you knew not to go any further with whatever subject you were talking about. It was the same sort of deal as those bright colors on the frogs in South America; poison alert. Just don't do it. "I'll talk to your father about it." That was it. That was the end of the conversation. Mom kept her word, always, at least, so Joe wasn't too upset, and didn't mind dropping it.

 

 

 

They drove up to the school, and mom parked the jeep in a space some yards away from the office. Both unbuckling their seat belts, Joe and Nick simultaneously turned in their seats, reaching behind them and pulling each other's backpacks up and over the seats from the back, exchanging them once they were both out of the car, walking up to the school. About halfway to the steps, they heard a bell ring from within, and looked at each other, their jaws dropping a little before they both ran passed their mother, one on each side. "Bye mom!" they called out together as they ran up the steps, Joe almost falling, and Nick pulling on his shoulder to help him stay upright.

Denise, shaking her head, walked properly up the stairs, into the building, apologized to the secretary who witnessed her two frantic sons, and took care of the paperwork.

Mean while, Joe and Nick pulled out a map of the school and their schedules. Quickly they realized that Joe had to go up to the next floor of the school, and Nick had to run to the other side of their current one. They probably had a minute to get to their class room before they were marked tardy on their first day. Tossing a glance at each other, they bumped fists before running off in opposite directions.

 

 

 

When Joe slipped onto the bench across from Nick at one of the outdoor lunch tables, he was mouthing a prayer of thanks to God for having found Nick despite all the strangers he was surrounded by. Nick just shook his head and leaned forward, lightly hitting Joe on the arm he laid across the table top, receiving a gentle kick in the leg right after. After a few moments of just sort of looking at each other, appraising, checking up on the other, Nick asked, concerned, "Joe, where's your lunch?" Joe puffed out a breathe of air and let his forehead fall to his arm. "What happened, Joey?" Nick's brows were furrowed a little.

"Dude." It was barely audible. "Some guy took it." Nick laughed because he thought Joe was kidding. Like, that didn't actually happen right? No one actually stole lunch, did they? But about two seconds later when Joe was silent and frustration was still being signaled to Nick by his body language, Nick reached into his bag pulling out everything he had, splitting his sandwich in half, setting one part on the paper bag, and one on the Ziploc, and sliding one half over to Joe, nudging him in the arm with it. Nick set his drink right in the middle of them. He gave an apologetic look to his chocolate pudding before pulling back the foil top, sticking the plastic spoon in it, and setting it by Joe's sandwich. Joe looked up, then, sighing a little at Nick's offer, a loving sigh. "You don't -"

But Nick interrupted. "I shouldn't eat that anyway," he said, pointing a look at the pudding. "Um, you know. I don't want to have any blood sugar problems on my first day anyway. I'll just drink more of the juice than you. Kay? And I wasn't really hungry. I probably would have thrown part of the sandwich away anyway." Joe gave Nick a sheepish smile before winking at him. Nick was such a liar, but he was grateful for it.

"Thanks Nicky."

It was Nick's turn to give Joe a soft kick, and Joe's turn to take a gentle swat at Nick's arm. They laughed with each other before starting on their measly meal. It was better than nothing, at least.

 

 

 

The bell rang too soon, telling them lunch was over and class would start in five minutes. Even though it was Joe who had started out with the worse end of the day, it was Nick who was giving Joe the absolute most pitiful look when they realized they had to separate yet again. Joe pulled Nick into his side really quick, looking around a second before kissing Nick on the top of his head. He didn't mind, per say, if anyone saw him giving his brother an affectionate peck, but he didn't want Nick to get any crap about it. They had eaten lunch alone, meaning neither of them had done too well in the make-a-friend department yet, and Joe didn't want to ruin any of his little brother's chances.

Nick was blushing a little when Joe finally let him out of the embrace. Joe just smiled at that. He loved how Nick could suddenly become bashful like that, as if he weren't one of the coolest, most collected people Joe had ever encountered in his seventeen - almost eighteen years of life. Joe shoved Nick playfully before heading off to class. He was going to make it a silent departure but Nick called after him, running up behind Joe. "Thanks," Nick breathed out. He quickly wrapped his arms around Joe before pulling away and heading off for his next class.

 

 

 

It was one thing to be ambushed, it was another to be preyed upon without knowing it until it was too late. Walking around the corner of the brick building, Nick didn't know it would have been best to run, quickly, far away. He was taking his time getting to his next class because he still had a few minutes left and before going out to eat, he had checked on the location of his next few classes. When an older boy suddenly came into the line of sight, Nick didn't have time to move farther out of the way, as he tripped over something, a foot. A foot totally and completely stuck out purposely to make him land face-first on the ground. Luckily Nick had pretty good reflexes and stuck his hands out to take the real force of the impact, but his nose still hit, sending pain up his arms, and through his head, a small yelp coming from him, and then a groan. Shifting his body a little, Nick turned so that he was sitting on the ground, and after a dizzy moment, sat up, glaring at the kid who had caused the fall.

He was about to say something, get angry, try to make the guy feel guilty or... something, when the guy, older than Nick and pretty skinny, actually, picked the nearest trash can up and dropped it right over the top half of Nick's body, suffocating him with disgusting smells, too-warm and too-cold food, drinks, possibly a milkshake, and other liquids, smothering him in darkness, making him feel trapped. For a moment of panic, he clawed at the plastic that fit perfectly over him like a body bag, getting food in his nails, letting the nacho cheese sink further into the curls on his head, trying desperately not to breathe, but fill his lungs at the same time, before he finally came to his senses, grabbing the edges of the trash can and throwing it off, backwards, over his head, landing with a thunk against the gray pavement. His eyes were shut so tight, trying not to let anything in, and he was shaking with adrenalin, left over from that short time of fear, of anger.

He stood up as quickly as he could, stumbling a little, almost tripping over his back pack that had landed behind his legs at some point. The guys' laughter faded, and Nick knew he was just walking away, walking away as if nothing had happened, even though Nick felt disgusting, like - well, like a load of garbage had just been dumped all over him. Eyes still closed, he shook his head, hair waving frantically around him, and his hands began wiping off anything and everything, going over every inch of his body. When he was sure he had gotten the bulk of it off of him, he finally opened his eyes, but they were stinging, watery, but he refused to cry as he picked up his back pack by one of the straps, holding it out in front of him a ways as he made his way to the office.

 

 

 

Blushing, this time out of embarrassment, he stepped up to the well-dressed lady behind the desk. She gave him a slightly pained look before pointing him into the nurses office. He walked in, shoulders slumped, and he couldn't see anyone at first, but then heard some rummaging from a closet or pantry of some kind at his right. He cleared his throat, trying to find his voice and let her know that there was someone waiting for her - he assumed the nurse was a she as it usually was - but it didn't work. Finally she emerged, her arm full of things. A bag of cotton balls, a box of bandages, tongue depressors, and an ice pack.

When she turned and came face to face with him, her frown said it all, but she added an unnecessary, "Oh... Dear..." anyway. Nick wanted to roll his eyes, but it really wasn't her fault, so if she could just stop pitying him and tell him how to fix this, that would be great. "Let me set these on the counter ... over here," she said as she did so. "Well - There's the bathroom," she said pointing to a door beside the closet she had come out of. "Paper towels are all I've got, but they should do fine for cleaning yourself up anyway. I'll get you a little sample of shampoo for that poor hair of yours and dig out some clothes for you." Nick just nodded along with her before dropping his clean backpack on an empty chair by the door.

"Can I see my brother please?" he asked softly, trying to keep the irritation from his voice, when she paused. She nodded to him with a soft smile. "Joe Jonas," he informed her, not needing to actually hear the question on her lips. "I'll just -" he said, cutting himself off as he stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He was careful not to lean backwards against the wall, even though that was what he wanted to do. It wouldn't help to get anything else dirty that he would also have to clean.

After inhaling, exhaling for a minute or so, he stepped up to the sink, rubbing his wrists a little which were really starting to hurt, before he grabbed at a few paper towels, the cheap brown kind that sort of scratched at your skin, and ran them under warm water. When he looked up into the small mirror, he finally let a small tear fall from his eyes, wiping it away with the towel the moment he saw it begin it's descent. Before he started the rub down, he examined his hair a bit, frown magnifying as he noted the coverage of the cheese. He looked like an absolute moron. No wonder all the kids had averted their gaze, giggling at him as he walked through the halls. It took every ounce of resistance he had, not to break into a string of filthy curse words.

Apparently he had gotten lost in himself, criticizing how he looked, thinking about how this had happened, wondering why it had happened, because a knock came at the door. "Nick?" Nick let out a shaky sigh of relief, hearing Joe's voice on the other side of the door. He dropped the brown piece of paper into the sink without a care and rushed over to the door, pushing the lock to the side, and opening the door for Joe, stepping aside, and letting him in before closing the door again, re-locking it. "Nicky..." Joe said, pityingly.

"Joe," Nick said, anguish in his voice. He knew he was being such a girl about this. It was just garbage, just some stupid guy getting his kicks, but he couldn't help it. This was his first day at a new school and he - he just - Nick sighed deeply and then Joe stepped closer to pull Nick into a hug. When his little brother saw what he was doing, he stuck his hands out, shaking them a little. "No! No... Don't. You'll get all gross too. Just. Can you...?" he didn't know what he wanted from Joe. He just needed him to be there. He was relieved when Joe stopped where he was, despite the look of discontent on his brother's face.

"Are you okay?" Nick shook his head no, honestly. Joe sighed, his shoulders slumping as he did so. Joe turned to the sink, warmed the water back up, and pulled out his yet un-used gym shirt from his backpack, wetting it, and walking over to Nick, wrapping it around his fingers and hand a little, in order to make sure it stayed on. He began wiping at Nick's face first, wiping gently, massaging, until Nicks' face relaxed, and his eyes fell closed, sending Nick into the kind of peace he used to feel from taking a bath. "What happened?" Joe finally braved, pulling Nick's shirt over his head and dropping to the floor before he started wiping all of the sauce and spilled drink that had slipped down through the collar of the shirt.

Joe noticed the small shivers that moved through Nick's skin as the water was hit by the cool air of the refrigerator bathroom, and picked up his pace, running his wash-cloth shirt over Nick's arms, walking around and quickly wiping away the filth on Nick's back before walking back around and pulling his little brother into a hug. Nick let the body heat sink into him, and the heat from Joe's clothes comfort him a little as he sighed into Joe, angling his head so his hair wouldn't touch him. "What happened?" Joe repeated softly, sending warm air gliding down Nick's back.

"I... I don't know exactly," Nick started, opening his eyes and pulling away so that he could walk over to the sink. He braced his hands on each side of the glass basin, looking into the mirror at himself. "I just turned the corner to go to my next class when this guy tripped me and dumped the freaking garbage can over my head. - Joe, why would he even do that? I hadn't _done_ anything." He slumped against the sink a little, letting his eyes close again, like he wanted to forget where he was and why this was happening.

"I know Nicky," Joe said, coming up behind him and rubbing circles into the skin of his back. "It wasn't your fault, baby boy." He placed a soft kiss to Nick's shoulder, causing Nick to lean into him a little. After a few moments of just breathing with each other, Joe took a step back, letting his hand drop, sliding down Nick's back as he moved away. "I'll go get your - she said she had shampoo - and the clothes. Be right back." Nick listened to the click of the lock and door, straining his ears to hear Joe's voice from the other side as he told the nurse how Nick was doing, and asked for everything, coming in a second later, and locking the door again.

"Okay..." he breathed, while Nick turned to face him, leaning back against the cold sink and not caring how uncomfortable it was. "She said she didn't have any jeans... Um," Joe held up a pair of purple basketball shorts. At least they looked almost new. "But hey -" Joe said, letting a smile creep onto his face, "I don't think that you should get to wear my favorite color, dude. That's just not cool. So I'm switching with you, no buts, no cuts, no coconuts. Okay?" Nick's eyes started to water once again, gratitude filling the hollows of his chest. "Then we have this shirt." He held that up as well, letting the purple shorts drop in his other hand.

"Teal. Dude, teal looks **amazing** on you. I've got to say, you are gonna be _jamming_ in my jeans and this shirt. So you better replace that frown with a smile, Rock Star." Joe was smiling widely as he tossed the shirt to Nick, and watched as Nick set it on top of the toilet seat, washed his hair as quickly as possible, rubbed it as dry as he could with a hand full of paper towels, slipped the shirt on over his head, and began taking his germ-covered jeans off. Joe joined him after a moment, tossing his to Nick as Nick's dropped to the ground and he stepped out of their hold, before slipping the purple shorts on, over his own hips. It actually didn't look too bad with his white v-neck tee, he thought, as he looked down the front of his body. He sort of looked like a baseball jock, actually, with his black Nike's, and black ankle socks.

As Nick finished zipping up Joe's jeans, and buttoning the top, he fell forward, collapsing into Joe who was surprised at first, but immediately wrapped Nick up in his arms. "Thanks Joe," he breathed into Joe's chest, making Joe inhale deeply.

"Hey, always."

 

 

 

They both had signed notes in their hands for their teachers, so Joe decided to walk Nick back to his class before heading off to his own. "So, what did this loser look like, anyway?"

Nick really didn't want to talk about it, like, at all, but since Joe had asked, he would. "He was taller; I think he's your age, Joe. He was wearing a - uh, oh yeah, a Mets t-shirt, and he was kind of skinny."

"A Mets t-shirt?" Nick nodded his head, looking curiously at the incredulous look spreading over Joe's face. "That son of a -" Joe stopped himself as he met Nick's increasingly growing eyes. "Same guy who took my lunch," he explained, anger inflicted in the tone of his voice, teeth clenching at every other word.

Nick just 'hmm'ed at that development, pursing his lips slightly. "So what... He's just picking on us - just cause?"

"I don't know Nick."

"Well what did he say when he took your lunch."

"Nothing really... He just, like, took it - grabbed it out of my hands and started walking away after shoving me a bit."

Nick stopped walking, and Joe turned to face him, giving him a, 'what, like I could help it' look. "I just don't understand what his deal is. We didn't _do_ anything." He said it, believed it, but then a flash of doubt crawled into him, remembering Joe's change of attitude earlier that day when he was talking to their mom. "You didn't, did you Joe? You didn't _do_ anything?" Joe scowled at him.

"Nicky. I wouldn't do anything that would make this guy mess with us like that. I'm not a jerk." After Nick cocked his head to the side a little, Joe conceded, "Not most of the time. Not to guys I don't know I can handle." That made Nick relax a little, his shoulders getting less tense. He mumbled an apology, and Joe ruffled his hair, telling him it was okay, that he could understand. Though it did kind of suck that Nick had considered that this whole thing was _his_ fault.

"So what're we gonna do?" Nick started walking again, Joe following a step behind him. Their shoes made shuffling noises against the dis-colored tile. They were getting closer to Nick's class, but he didn't want to leave Joe again. They'd finally gotten used to public school last year after having been home taught up through Nick's middle school years. Then they moved, and this was new territory, and Nick was starting to fumble around feeling like he'd never done this whole 'school thing' before. He didn't like feeling like such a dweeb about all of this, but he couldn't stop it either.

Sighing, Joe threw an arm around his little brother's shoulders. "I really don't know. I guess we could tell mom..."

"Yeah, Joe, cause mom's here and she's going to beat away some jerk-bully with her purse."

"Hey, I've been on the receiving end of that swat. She's pretty good." When Nick glanced over with an appreciative smirk, he caught Joe rubbing his arm at just the memory of it, but that was the end of their serious conversation, because Nick couldn't hold back a laugh. Well, Joe just loved hearing it so much, that he started laughing too, and before they had time to get back on track, they were standing in front of tenth grade biology class. "See ya, kiddo," he said, pulling Nick away from the window in the door, and giving him another kiss on the head, successfully making Nick want to leave the school with Joe then and there, which of course meant Joe practically had to pry Nick off of him, and shove him through the door to the classroom, throwing a wink over his shoulder as he went back to his own class. Yay, Spanish.

 

 

 

What Joe hadn't told Nick was that their dear friend was _in_ his Spanish class. The closer he got, the harder his feet began slamming into the ground, the whiter his knuckles got, the more clenched his jaw grew. "Yeah, dude," Joe said tightly under his breathe, "I am going to kick. Your.  _Ass_!"

He had planned on sitting nicely through the class, being a good student for the rest of the school day, and simply finding the dirt bag afterward so that there was less of a chance he'd get suspended. It just wasn't fair, or God didn't mind if he got suspended, or something, because as he walked up to the door, he looked through the window, his hand twisting the knob, pushing the door open, and there the dude was standing at the chalk board just _asking_ to be pounced upon. Joe took a running leap at the too-tall-to-be-a-student guy and wrapped his arms around the guy's pencil neck, shoving his fist awkwardly at the guy's over-sized nose.

"What the fu-?!" yelled the other guy upon impact, swinging around, running Joe right into the board behind them. He was too focused though, thoughts on Nick, how much of a jerk that guy was to his little brother, someone he loved so much it hurt, that he couln't, wouldn't let go, as his spine made hard contact.

"Duke! Duke!" the teacher was shouting in her shrillest voice, which would have made Joe laugh had he not been trying to pound on a guy who towered over him. Duke began sinking under the weight a little, and Joe thought that maybe he was accomplishing something before Duke swung him around so fast that Joe flew off, landing on the floor a few feet away. Before he could even consider getting up, Duke was lunging at him, grabbing his shoulder and shoving him into the ground. Duke socked him, hard, making Joe's eyes roll back into his head momentarily, stealing his sight, even, but he just breathed, kept breathing, thinking of Nick, gathering all of his strength and slammed his fist square into Duke's nose with a loud crack.

"Oh God!" Joe shouted, finding his voice amongst a short breathe. He had thought the crack came from his broken fingers, but actually, his fingers weren't even broken, just severely bruised. He moved them a bit, as Duke fell over onto his side, grabbing at his nose. Yeah, Joe was in pain, but he couldn't help but smirk. He'd just broken that asshole's nose.

The teacher was on the phone, Joe saw, before closing his tired eyes, and letting his head drop back to the floor, holding his hand on his jumping-for-air stomach. Duke was by his side, crying, and that made Joe want to laugh. "Seriously dude," he said, "Don't mess with my brother. Ever." Duke may not have said anything, not even after he was led into the nurses' office, and then into the principals office along with Joe. He may not have even looked at Joe, but there was an agreement there. Joe took his punishment willingly, the reprimand from his mother and father.

Nick was smiling at him the whole way home, only looking upset whenever he focused on Joe's battle wounds, as they decided to call them. Nick pulled Joe's wrapped hand to his lips, kissing it softly. Joe just smiled back, couldn't help himself.

-

Part of the deal was that right when they pulled into the garage, Joe was to go straight to his room. Being grounded was fun like that. Before Joe could turn back for it, Nick grasped the top of his back pack as his older brother stepped out of the car. Nick smiled as he tucked it into his side and silently communicated with Joe that he'd take it for him; Joe had earned it, when he was given a questioning look. As Joe made his way up the stairs, glancing behind him once and frowning to see that Nick wasn't following, his little brother set their bags by the wall, was enveloped in a brief hug from his mother, and then went to the freezer to ready a bag of ice wrapped in a towel to keep away some of the bite.

Head peeking in around the door, Nick made sure Joe was decent before he stepped into the room and dropped their bags to the floor once more before he brought the ice to his brother who was sitting on the bed with a recognizing, appreciative smile. "Thanks Nicky," he said. Nick sat himself on the edge of the bed, back to Joe, but his side beside Joe's hurt hand. He lifted it carefully into his lap with his free hand before placing the bag of ice over the top of Joe's throbbing hand. Seemingly studying it for the moment, Nick held Joe's arm, thumbing over his wrist as Joe let his head settle back against the wall.

A few moments of quiet passed and Joe let the cold numb his nerves slowly as it sunk through the farm animal towel his mother seemed to think was cute and kitchen-appropriate. Turning into him, lifting his hand above his thigh as not to jostle his sensitive bones, Nick looked Joe over carefully, noting his brothers' closed eyes. For a moment he was almost afraid to say anything, to interrupt him, but then he remembered it was _Joe_ and _Joe_ wouldn't mind. "I didn't know you were going to - beat him up," he said softly as Joe peeked one eye open and then the other, looking confused for a moment, and then a little worried.

"He hurt you," Joe said after a second, studying Nick carefully as he sat up, in explanation. Nick nodded and then looked away, but the pad of his thumb was still smoothing over Joe's wrist so he allowed himself to relax back into the wall again.

"Not physically." Nick looked back up. His eyes seemed squared up, even if his shoulders were slumped over. Brows furrowing, Joe pulled his injured hand into his own lap, holding the gradually melting ice over the top of it.

"Does it matter?" Nick's face softened at that and one side of his mouth turned upward in a cockeyed smile. When Nick stood from the bed, hair falling in the path of his eyes a little, Joe opened his mouth to protest but shut it when Nick turned back to him and placed his palms and knees on the bed. He crawled forward a few inches before laying himself at Joe's side, not touching, but sharing his space none the less. Holding his breathe a beat, Joe shifted his hand a little. It felt like Nick was absorbing the pain, though he knew it was just the ice. In a way, he supposed he could consider it Nick, since he'd been the one to bring the relief to him.

Reaching over, Nick played with the fringe of the hand-towel, eyes overly focused on the chicken whose feet sat at the edge of the fabric; it blurred into the neighboring cow. "Thank you," he said finally, pulling his eyes up and away to let them adjust to Joe's face, his big brothers' eyes already on him. Joe just smiled a little proud and then leaned down to rest his cheek on the top of Nick's curls. Nick felt himself blush but Joe'd seen his cheeks redden a million times, so he didn't try to force it back - too much anyway. For a moment his words caught in his mouth, like an invisible barrier sat on his tongue, cotton balls maybe, stuffed in, making his mouth go dry, and his throat tighten. He swallowed it down though, and tried again, managing an over-soft, "Love you, Joe..."

Joe's head left the comfort of Nick's warm head, and he looked down, seeing as much of Nick's face as he could while a soft smile spread across his lips. After a second, after watching Nick's muscles tense with the need to turn away, to move away from whatever mistake he'd just made, because Joe wasn't saying anything, Joe pushed his shoulder into Nick's arm, pushing him a little, just to let him fall back in. "You too. I love you too, Nicky." When Nick looked up, his eyebrows were a little tight, his eyes were strained, studying, searching. Joe smiled back, waited patiently and then smiled wider when Nick exhaled so much it seemed like his body deflated part way, shoulders closing in a little, body slumping into his older brothers'. Nick's head fell onto Joe's shoulder and after a short moment, his hand reached over and slid over the top of his brothers' good hand, holding it carefully.

"You're grounded."

"Yup," Joe answered shortly, a hint of laughter in his voice, and his eyes sort of bright.

"That's going to be really boring."

"Maybe, baby boy, maybe." Nick craned his neck a little at the tone and Joe pressed his lips to the crown of his head again, a promise of different kisses to come. Neither one could help the little smiles the settled on their faces, ridiculous as the implications were. Both knew it meant nothing more, well almost nothing more, than exactly what they were doing right at that moment. But the thought was still satisfying enough to have them both laughing inwardly as they pressed closer together.


End file.
